Trump administration not in a rush to replace Powell: Treasury chief Bessent
'We are getting the process underway. Obviously it's going to be President Trump's decision, and we're not in a rush,' Bessent told Bloomberg TV in an interview.
Powell's term as chair ends in May 2026, although he is due to stay on as a Fed governor through January 2028.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly called for Powell to resign but has said he would not fire him.
In a separate interview aired on Tuesday, Bessent said there was no need for Powell to resign right now.
When asked if Fed Governor Michelle Bowman was under consideration, Bessent said: 'I'm not going to name names, but there are candidates, as I said, on the board, several female regional bank presidents and there are fantastic women outside the Fed.'
Bessent said he continued to have regular meetings with Powell and that Powell had not told him whether he would leave his board seat before 2028.
'My belief is that he will. And I think that it would be very good for the institution for him to do it and I think it'd be very good for him personally to do it,' Bessent said.
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Al Arabiya
28 minutes ago
- Al Arabiya
Starmer to press Trump on ending ‘unspeakable suffering' in Gaza
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will press Donald Trump on ending 'the unspeakable suffering' in Gaza, and also talk trade, when they meet Monday at the US president's golf resort in Scotland. The talks will come a day after the US and the European Union reached a landmark deal to end a transatlantic standoff over tariffs and avert a full-blown trade war. Starmer is expected to push Trump on urging a revival of stalled ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas as a hunger crisis deepens in the besieged Palestinian territory. The meeting at Turnberry, southwestern Scotland, comes as European countries express growing alarm at the situation in Gaza, and as Starmer faces domestic pressure to follow France's lead and recognize a Palestinian state. The leaders will also discuss implementing a recent UK-US trade deal, as well as efforts to end Russia's war against Ukraine, according to a British government statement issued late Sunday. But it is the growing threat of starvation faced by Palestinians in Gaza that is set to dominate the talks, on the third full day of Trump's trip to the land where his mother was born. Starmer is expected to 'welcome the president's administration working with partners in Qatar and Egypt to bring about a ceasefire in Gaza,' a Downing Street spokesperson said. 'He will discuss further with him what more can be done to secure the ceasefire urgently, bring an end to the unspeakable suffering and starvation in Gaza and free the hostages who have been held so cruelly for so long.' Trump told reporters Sunday that the US would give more aid to Gaza but he wanted other countries to step up as well. 'It's not a US problem. It's an international problem,' he said, before embarking on crunch trade talks with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen at the resort south of Glasgow. Starmer and Trump's meeting comes after the UK PM backed efforts by Jordan and the United Arab Emirates to air drop aid to Gaza. Humanitarian chiefs remain skeptical such deliveries can deliver enough food safely for the area's more than two million inhabitants. On Sunday, Israel declared a 'tactical pause' in fighting in parts of Gaza and said it would allow the UN and aid agencies to open secure land routes to tackle the hunger crisis. Tariffs Last week, the United States and Israel withdrew from Gaza truce talks, with US envoy Steve Witkoff accusing Hamas of blocking a deal -- a claim rejected by the Palestinian militant group. Starmer held talks with French and German counterparts on Saturday, after which the UK government said they agreed 'it would be vital to ensure robust plans are in place to turn an urgently-needed ceasefire into lasting peace.' But the Downing Street statement made no mention of Palestinian statehood, which French President Emmanuel Macron has announced his country will recognize in September. More than 220 MPs in Britain's 650-seat parliament, including dozens from Starmer's own ruling Labour party, have demanded that he too recognize Palestinian statehood. Number 10 said Starmer and Trump would also discuss 'progress on implementing the UK-US trade deal,' which was signed on May 8 and lowered tariffs for certain UK exports but has yet to come into force. Trump said Sunday the agreement was 'great' for both sides and that Starmer was doing 'a very good job.' After their meeting they will travel together to Aberdeen in Scotland's northeast, where the US president is expected to formally open a new golf course at his resort on Tuesday. Trump played golf at Turnberry on Saturday and Sunday on his five-day visit that has mixed leisure with diplomacy, and also further blurred the lines between the presidency and his business interests.
Arab News
2 hours ago
- Arab News
Starmer to press Trump on Gaza, trade in Scotland talks
TURNBERRY, Britain: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will press Donald Trump on ending 'the unspeakable suffering' in Gaza, and also talk trade, when they meet Monday at the US president's golf resort in Scotland. The talks will come a day after the US and the European Union reached a landmark deal to end a transatlantic standoff over tariffs and avert a full-blown trade war. Starmer is expected to push Trump on urging a revival of stalled ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas as a hunger crisis deepens in the besieged Palestinian territory. The meeting at Turnberry, southwestern Scotland, comes as European countries express growing alarm at the situation in Gaza, and as Starmer faces domestic pressure to follow France's lead and recognize a Palestinian state. The leaders will also discuss implementing a recent UK-US trade deal, as well as efforts to end Russia's war against Ukraine, according to a British government statement issued late Sunday. But it is the growing threat of starvation faced by Palestinians in Gaza that is set to dominate the talks, on the third full day of Trump's trip to the land where his mother was born. Starmer is expected to 'welcome the president's administration working with partners in Qatar and Egypt to bring about a ceasefire in Gaza,' a Downing Street spokesperson said. 'He will discuss further with him what more can be done to secure the ceasefire urgently, bring an end to the unspeakable suffering and starvation in Gaza and free the hostages who have been held so cruelly for so long.' Trump told reporters Sunday that the US would give more aid to Gaza but he wanted other countries to step up as well. 'It's not a US problem. It's an international problem,' he said, before embarking on crunch trade talks with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen at the resort south of Glasgow. Starmer and Trump's meeting comes after the UK PM backed efforts by Jordan and the United Arab Emirates to air drop aid to Gaza. Humanitarian chiefs remain skeptical such deliveries can deliver enough food safely for the area's more than two million inhabitants. On Sunday, Israel declared a 'tactical pause' in fighting in parts of Gaza and said it would allow the UN and aid agencies to open secure land routes to tackle the hunger crisis. Last week, the United States and Israel withdrew from Gaza truce talks, with US envoy Steve Witkoff accusing Hamas of blocking a deal — a claim rejected by the Palestinian militant group. Starmer held talks with French and German counterparts on Saturday, after which the UK government said they agreed 'it would be vital to ensure robust plans are in place to turn an urgently-needed ceasefire into lasting peace.' But the Downing Street statement made no mention of Palestinian statehood, which French President Emmanuel Macron has announced his country will recognize in September. More than 220 MPs in Britain's 650-seat parliament, including dozens from Starmer's own ruling Labour party, have demanded that he too recognize Palestinian statehood. Number 10 said Starmer and Trump would also discuss 'progress on implementing the UK-US trade deal,' which was signed on May 8 and lowered tariffs for certain UK exports but has yet to come into force. Trump said Sunday the agreement was 'great' for both sides and that Starmer was doing 'a very good job.' After their meeting they will travel together to Aberdeen in Scotland's northeast, where the US president is expected to formally open a new golf course at his resort on Tuesday. Trump played golf at Turnberry on Saturday and Sunday on his five-day visit that has mixed leisure with diplomacy, and also further blurred the lines between the presidency and his business interests.
Arab News
5 hours ago
- Arab News
US and EU strike deal with 15 percent tariff to avert trade war
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Von der Leyen, describing Trump as a tough negotiator, said the 15 percent tariff applied 'across the board,' later telling reporters it was 'the best we could get.' 'We have a trade deal between the two largest economies in the world, and it's a big deal. It's a huge deal. It will bring stability. It will bring predictability,' she said. The deal, which Trump said calls for $750 billion of EU purchases of US energy in coming years and 'hundreds of billions of dollars' of arms purchases, likely spells good news for a host of EU companies, including Airbus, Mercedes-Benz and Novo Nordisk, if all the details hold. The baseline 15 percent tariff will still be seen by many in Europe as too high, compared with Europe's initial hopes to secure a zero-for-zero tariff deal, though it is better than the threatened 30 percent rate. 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Mirror of Japan deal The deal mirrors key parts of the framework accord reached by the US with Japan, but like that deal, it leaves many questions open, including tariff rates on spirits, a highly charged topic for many on both sides of the Atlantic. Carsten Nickel, deputy director of research at Teneo, said it was 'merely a high-level, political agreement' that could not replace a carefully hammered out trade deal: 'This, in turn, creates the risk of different interpretations along the way, as seen immediately after the conclusion of the US-Japan deal.' 'We are agreeing that the tariff ... for automobiles and everything else will be a straight-across tariff of 15 percent,' Trump said, but he quickly added that a 50 percent US tariff on steel and aluminum will remain in place. Von der Leyen said that tariff would be cut and replaced with a quota system. Von der Leyen said the rate also applied to semiconductors and pharmaceuticals, and there would be no tariffs from either side on aircraft and aircraft parts, certain chemicals, certain generic drugs, semiconductor equipment, some agricultural products, natural resources and critical raw materials. Trump initially appeared to suggest pharmaceuticals would not be covered, but a senior administration official later confirmed to reporters that the tariff deal applied to pharmaceuticals. Officials also said EU leaders had accepted that the US would keep its 50 percent steel and aluminum tariff in place while the two sides continue to discuss it. 'We will keep working to add more products to this list,' von der Leyen said, adding that spirits were still under discussion. The deal will be sold as a triumph for Trump, who is seeking to reorder the global economy and reduce decades-old US trade deficits, and has already reached similar framework accords with Britain, Japan, Indonesia and Vietnam, although his administration has not hit its goal of '90 deals in 90 days.' He has periodically railed against the EU, saying it was 'formed to screw the United States' on trade. Arriving in Scotland, Trump said the EU wanted 'to make a deal very badly' and said, as he met von der Leyen, that Europe had been 'very unfair to the United States.' Trump has fumed for years about the US merchandise trade deficit with the EU, which in 2024 reached $235 billion, according to US Census Bureau data. The EU points to the US surplus in services, which it says partially redresses the balance. Now he argues, his tariffs are bringing in 'hundreds of billions of dollars' of revenues for the US, while dismissing warnings from economists about the risk of inflation. On July 12, Trump threatened to apply a 30 percent tariff on imports from the EU starting on August 1, after weeks of negotiations with the major US trading partners failed to reach a comprehensive trade deal. The EU had prepared countertariffs on 93 billion euros ($109 billion) of US goods in the event there was no deal, and Trump made good his 30 percent tariff threat. Some member states had also pushed for the bloc to use its most powerful trade weapon, the anti-coercion instrument, to target US services in the event of a no-deal.
